Hornet Heritage family makes “Prophet-able” connection with ESU

September 13, 2011

The Hornet Heritage award, sponsored by the ESU Alumni Association, annually recognizes a multigenerational family of Hornet alumni and former students. The family of Carl (BSE 1955, MS 1957) and Kay Prophet, Emporia, will be honored during Family Day festivities Saturday, Sept. 17. “It's certainly a surprise and an honor to be selected and to recognize all my relatives who've been students here at ESU,” said Dr. Prophet, professor emeritus of biology. “We moved here [to Emporia] in the fall of 1953 after I got out of the Army,” Prophet explained. After finishing his master’s degree in 1957, Prophet taught in KSTC’s biology department for three years. He rejoined the KSTC faculty in 1962 after earning his doctorate, rising to become chair of the Division of Biological Sciences at ESU before retiring in 1996. The Prophet-Brady family tree's branches stretch to include 14 family members — including children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews — who have received degrees from ESU and 22 who've attended the university. Two of Carl and Kay’s three children — Stuart (BSB 1978), Topeka, and Kevin (BSB 1980, MBA 1982), Olathe — earned ESU degrees. The couple’s daughter, Peggy, took classes from ESU on her way to earning a degree at another institution. Stuart’s wife, Jan (Latta) Prophet (BSE 1978, MS 1993), earned ESU degrees, as did the couple’s two children, Haley (Prophet) Akin (BS 2005) and Hanna Prophet (BSE 2010). A nephew, Dr. Mark Brady (BS 1985), Overland Park, is currently serving as a member of the ESU Foundation board of trustees. The family will be recognized at halftime of the ESU-Central Missouri football game at ESU’s Welch Stadium. Kick-off is at 1 p.m. Tickets are available by calling ESU Athletic Ticketing at (620) 341-6378 or (877) 341-6378. Tickets cost $12 for reserved seats, $8 for general admission adults and $6 for junior-senior general admission. Family packs, which contain two adult and two junior-senior general admission tickets cost $22. Juniors are age 4 through high school; seniors are 65 and older. Children under 4 are free.